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Oct 10

Cellphones thinner than ever

Strategy Analytics latest look at its spec-tracking (hence the name) SpecTRAX database of wireless devices has unearthed a few juicy tidbits of information, none more notable than the fact that phone thickness is at a new all-time low — 13.96mm on average, the first time the metric has ever fallen below 14mm (for comparison, Motorola’s original DynaTAC clocked in around 89mm, so we’re making some solid improvement there). USB penetration is at a new high, too, supported by some 85 percent of newly-entered devices in the database, and battery life is up 25 percent from two years ago. Of course, that’s still not nearly long enough — battery tech is falling dangerously behind virtually every other technology that goes into the making of a mobile device, sadly — but we’ll take any improvement we can get.

[Via MobileTechNews]

Filed under: Cellphones

Cellphones thinner than ever originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 10

FoxyTunes Planet: The Web 2.0 Version of Music Searching

Posted in: Pre-Release, Software, Today's Chili, Web Sites

This article was written on January 22, 2007 by CyberNet.

FoxyTunes Planet Beta

One of the most used Firefox extensions has to be FoxyTunes. It is designed to control a large range of media players right from your browser, and it is compatible with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Just when you thought the best couldn’t get better…

They are currently testing FoxyTunes Planet which is a music aggregation service. They have a nice search engine (pictured above) that will let you search for artists or you can browse for them by genre. Once you find the artist/group you’re looking for it will take you to a customizable page featuring videos, photos, news, bios, and much more.

They also offer a version of the FoxyTunes add-on/extension that works seamlessly with FoxyTunes Planet. While you’re playing a song all you have to do is click on the “planet” icon in the Status Bar to have it retrieve that artist’s page:

FoxyTunes Planet

As you can see from the screenshot above a wealth of information is presented to you in just seconds…and the best thing is that you can customize how much stuff is shown. One of the planned features is to let users add widgets that aren’t already pre-designed, but until that happens you’ll be limited to these:

Amazon.com
Last FM
Flickr
Google
iTunes Music Store
eMusic
Hype Machine
Rhapsody
Pandora
YouTube
Yahoo! Images
Yahoo! Music

So…one thing that is important for you to know is that the service is currently in a private Beta and you’ll have to request an invite to get in. “Jack of all Trades” is the one who sent me information on this and he told me that I should request an invite myself…so I did. The only thing that he said the service lacks is a widget to retrieve the lyrics for a particular song, and I’m sure that will get added very soon because a lot of people would love to have that.

Here is some more information on the FoxyTunes Planet:
Frequently Asked Questions
FoxyTunes Planet announcement

FoxyTunes 2.0 Released For Firefox Users

Yahoo Shuts Down Unlimited Music Service, Acquires FoxyTunes

Yahoo! Music Engine Now Yahoo! Music Jukebox With Upgrades

Get Access to Millions of Songs with Jogli

Oct 10

T-Mobile Sidekick Out(r)age: Your Data’s Probably Gone Forever

Posted in: t-mobile, Today's Chili, top

T-Mobile Sidekick users have been holding out hope that their data might be recovered after T-Mo issued an optimistic message of hope. But the carrier just updated users and admitted the truth: Your shit’s gone. Sorry, guys.

It’s been more than two weeks without data for Sidekick users, and T-Mobile finally bit the bullet and announced that it probably isn’t coming back. The quote:

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low.

This is pretty crappy of T-Mobile and Danger, and while it’s probably unfair to make this connection, doesn’t give us any new confidence in Project Pink, developed by the remnants of Danger after Microsoft acquired it. (After all, Microsoft bought Danger specifically because of their software services. And now, it just goes kablooey?) Renowned Sidekick user and a-hole Perez Hilton, while normally hysteric about just about everything, has the right tone here:

To add insult to injury, the ONLY thing T-Mobile is offering their customers, whom they obviously don’t value or respect, is one month of free data service.
That’s shit!
One month of free data service (which is not the same thing as one month of free phone use) for SEVEN DAYS of heartache and no access to contacts????
That’s fucked!!!!

Really, that’s kind of putting it lightly. [T-Mobile via Boy Genius Report]

Oct 10

T-Mobile: we probably lost all your Sidekick data

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Microsoft, t-mobile, Today's Chili

Well, this is shaping up to be one of the biggest disasters in the history of cloud computing, and certainly the largest blow to Danger and the Sidekick platform: T-Mobile’s now reporting that personal data stored on Sidekicks has “almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger.” They’re still looking for a way to recover it, but they’re not giving users a lot of hope — meanwhile, servers are still on the fritz and customers are being advised not to let their devices power down because anything that’s still on there will be lost the next time the device is turned on. Another communique is promised from T-Mobile on Monday to give everyone a status update on the recovery efforts, but at this point, it’s not looking good at all.

Update: Apparently T-Mobile has paused the sale of new Sidekicks, as all models are now listed as “temporarily out of stock” on the company’s site. Additionally, a warning as been added to the post on T-Mobile’s forum which reads: “Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.” Scary stuff, Sidekickers.

T-Mobile: we probably lost all your Sidekick data originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 10

Missing Sidekick data may be gone for good

Posted in: Today's Chili

Most of them don't look like this today.

(Credit:
CNET

It looks as though the current Sidekick outage is turning into a bigger mess for T-Mobile. The company has just published an apology to Sidekick users who’ve been without many important services for a few days–and says …

Oct 10

Acer issues recall for some Aspire laptops

Posted in: laptop, Today's Chili

Acer’s issued a voluntary recall for some of its Aspire laptops — all of which were manufactured before September 15th of this year. It seems that some of them are experiencing an overheat of the microphone cable after “repeated” and “extreme” pressure is applied to the left palm rest. The affected models include the AS3410, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ and AS3810TZG. Acer’s set up a website where you can enter the serial number of your device to see if yours might be one of the affected.

Filed under: Laptops

Acer issues recall for some Aspire laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 10

Conan O’Brien talks to the co-creator of USB on The Tonight Show

Posted in: awesome, intel, Today's Chili, usb, video

Now this is kind of amazing. Remember those Intel “rock star” ads — featuring the co-creator of USB, Ajay Bhatt? Of course you do. What you might not know is that the Ajay Bhatt in those commercials is actually an actor. Apparently, Conan O’Brien made this discovery and felt compelled to sit down with the actual Ajay and pick his brain about technology… and, er, other things. Just watch the video after the break — you’ll thank us later.

[Thanks, Carter]

Continue reading Conan O’Brien talks to the co-creator of USB on The Tonight Show

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Conan O’Brien talks to the co-creator of USB on The Tonight Show originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 10

Mizzou’s nuclear battery to power things smaller than your brain can imagine

Posted in: nano, power, research, Today's Chili, university

Oh yeah, everyone loves the extended battery, but are we really kosher with the added bulge? A team of boffins at the University of Missouri certainly aren’t, as they’ve spent the last good while of their lives researching and developing a new nuclear battery that could be used to power devices much smaller than, well, most anything. The radioisotope cell, as it’s called, can reportedly “provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries,” and while some may question the safety of this potentially volatile device, the liquid semiconductor (used instead of a solid semiconductor) should help ease concerns. The current iteration of the device is about the size of a penny, and it’s intended to power a variety of MEMS systems. Now, if only these guys could find a way to make a standard AA last longer than a week in our Wiimote, we’d be pleased as punch.

[Via BBC, thanks Jim]

Filed under: Peripherals

Mizzou’s nuclear battery to power things smaller than your brain can imagine originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 10

Wii balance board could be used in fruitless airport security effort

Posted in: nintendo, safety, security, Today's Chili, wii

You know that sweeping feeling of guilt that comes over you every time you’re pulled over as part of a “standard traffic stop?” Yeah, those natural emotions are about to make you look incredibly suspicious on the way to your next flight — or it will if the FAST project is ever turned into reality. The Homeland Security-funded Future Attribute Screening Technology effort, which has already ate away at $20 million in taxpayer dollars, essentially hopes to let flyers keep all of their clothes on while forcing them to stand on a Wii balance board (or similar) and have an array of sensors watch their every reaction to a battery of questions. The problem? Every innocent person on the planet’s going to start sweating and shaking just being in that kind of scenario, and only the trained terrorists of the world are apt to be able to put truth aside and fake the machine into thinking everything is cool. Oh sure, we’re being a little dramatic here, but seriously — maybe the TSA should just require a complete life history as a prerequisite to boarding.